Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart
by The Ice Phoenix
Summary: Post-Avengers One-Shot; Director Fury's been hiding secrets again. This time they've effected Stark on a personal level; Pip's in danger, Pepper's worried, and it's down to Tony to be the hero. This one-shot is the ultimate proof that Tony Stark does, indeed, have a heart.
1. Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart

**A/N; I did originally have this set after Iron Man 2, but before Avengers. I later changed it to Post-Avengers to fit in with other fics I have planned for the future. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Iron Man or any of Stan Lee's wonderful characters. **

**Enjoy ;) (And please review with any comments or criticisms)**

_**~The Ice Phoenix**_

* * *

The gold and red suit stared blankly into space as the boy searched for a sign of life behind the mask. He often came into the workshop when he knew Stark was elsewhere, ever since he had first stumbled across the armour four years earlier. The boy was so engrossed in his examination that he didn't notice the man approach until he subtly cleared his throat to announce his presence. The boy jumped guiltily before turning to stand like a good little solider. Tony Stark unsuccessfully tried to disguise a chuckle as a cough and the boy's gaze involuntarily focused on an unusual white-blue light glowing through the man's t-shirt.

"Curiosity get the better of you, did it, Pip?" Tony questioned as the boy hung his head in both shame and guilt.

"I'm not angry," Stark paused as he considered what he'd just said, "No, I am angry, actually."

Pip gulped in fear as Tony walked calmly to stand directly in front of him.

"Can I trust you to return to your quarters without taking detours?" he whispered into the boy's ear.

"Yes Sir." Pip mumbled to the ground.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Tony ordered in a surprisingly gentle tone.

The boy reluctantly lifted his gaze and Stark was somehow reminded of Pepper. Lots of things about Pip reminded him of Pepper, from the strawberry tinge to his dark hair, to the sound of his laughter. The boy's eyes, however, were a light brown – identical to Tony's – and they also shared several personality traits, much to Pip's mother's horror.

"Sir?"

Stark realised with a jolt that he'd been staring at the boy in a daydream and lashed out instinctively.

"What are you waiting for? Get out!" he snapped.

Pip flinched and left the room in a rush, but not before Tony noticed the tears that were beginning to form in the boy's eyes.

Stark could still remember the day Pepper had told him about Pip. She had been unwell most mornings, but insisted on working throughout the day, regardless. Tony was ashamed to admit that he had become frustrated with Pepper until she'd finally decided to tell him about the baby. After Pip was born, Stark discovered the hard way that he was no good with children and, as a result, the boy had never called Tony anything other than "Sir."

_Pip had always been careful not to let anyone see him cry, and he was not yet willing to make an exception. He was curled up in the corner of his room with his knees held close to his chest. His dark clothes and naturally pale skin made the boy look like he had just stepped out of an old black and white photograph._

"_Master Pip, is there anything I can do?" a metallic voice echoed around the room, startling the boy._

"_Go away, Jarvis." Pip sniffed as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve._

_The computer hesitated, "As you wish."_

_As far as the boy could remember, Stark had never showed him any form of admiration or pride, and, in his depressed state, Pip grabbed random items of clothing and useful equipment from his room and stuffed them unceremoniously into a rucksack. He kicked open his window, but decided against jumping as the fall would probably end in his death. Leaving through the front door was not ideal, as Pip was more likely to be caught running away, but he didn't have much of a choice. Nobody tried to stop the boy as he sneaked through the house and out of the front door. For the second time that day, Pip did not notice someone approach him from behind until it was too late. A small dose of tranquilizer injected directly into the boy's neck was more than enough to knock him unconscious for several hours while the men dragged him away. _

"Tony, have you seen Pip?"

Pepper found Stark in his beloved workshop as she suspected, mulling over digital blueprints.

"He should be in his room." He replied, "Will that be all, Miss Potts?"

She couldn't stop herself from grinning, "That will be all, Mr Stark."

The window in Pip's room had been left ajar, which meant nothing to Pepper even after she discovered that her son was gone.

"I can't find him anywhere in the house." She explained to Tony no more than an hour later.

Stark only shrugged, "He'll appear in time for dinner."

"He's taken his wallet and he's not answering his phone." Pepper insisted.

"Stupid boy." Tony mumbled to himself.

Pepper had to fight to stop the tears from falling, "I know you don't mean that." She pleaded, "Please go look for him."

Stark sighed, but nodded as he went to put on the suit.

_Pip woke in a dimly lit room with a pounding headache and a nauseating feeling to his stomach. The grubby mattress he was lying on was incredibly uncomfortable as the rusty springs dug painfully into his back. He groaned subconsciously and unwillingly won the attention of his captor._

"_So the bastard finally decided to come round." A deep foreign sounding voice sneered in practiced English._

_Pip squinted up at the man towering over him, but the majority of the Stranger's face was draped in shadows, leaving only the mouth and chin open to the light._

"_What do want from me?" the boy gasped._

_The man smiled menacingly, revealing a collection of yellowing teeth in the process._

"_I want the suit." He hissed._

"_But why do you need me?" Pip croaked, "Why can't you just steal it?"_

"_Because Tony Stark must give it to me, and this way is much more fun." The Stranger's booming laughter mixed in with several bodiless sniggers from the darkness. _

_The boy smiled nervously, "He's just a man in a suit."_

_The Stranger's smile dissolved instantly as he grabbed Pip by his hair and yanked him painfully up onto his knees, "It's not just a suit!" he hissed as he drew a bloody knife from somewhere inside his jacket and pressed it threateningly against the boy's throat, "And Tony Stark is not just a man." _

_He threw the boy back onto the mattress where Pip collapsed into a coughing fit when the dust from the air caught in his windpipe. A single drop of blood fell into the boy's waiting hand from a stinging red line on his neck and, once again laughing, the Stranger and his bodiless goons left Pip alone in his very own living nightmare._

Pepper found herself pacing around the house, even though she'd promised herself she wouldn't. Her fingers kept creeping to her mouth and her teeth insisted on nibbling her nails, regardless of how often she forced her hands down. Waiting was never one of Pepper's strong points; especially since Stark had been held hostage in Afghanistan all those years ago. Pip and Tony were the closest thing to a family Pepper had, and she wasn't prepared to lose either of them, but as the minutes slithered past into hours, she slowly began to lose faith.

Stark dreaded the moment when he'd have to return home and tell Pepper he hadn't found Pip, but he couldn't stall forever.

"Miss Potts?" he called hesitantly as his robots took the suit off for him.

The quiet slapping of Pepper's bare feet on the floor as she ran acted as a back beat for her desperate plea, "Did you find him?"

Stark only managed a small shake of his head as he held up Pip's missing rucksack before Pepper's legs caved in. He watched helplessly as she sank to her knees and cried into her hands as her heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Tony knew he had never shown the boy any emotion, apart from frustration, and occasionally anger when he found Pip snooping in places he was forbidden from, but he also knew that Pepper loved the boy even more than she had ever loved Stark. The boy's phone buzzed excitedly from the depths of his bag, begging to be answered as it sang as loud as it was able. Pepper dived for the handset and wiped her eyes as she stared at the caller ID.

"Unidentified number." She sniffed.

Stark gently took the phone from Pepper and raised it to his ear.

"Pip?"

_Cold sweat ran down Pip's back and a loyal goon stood behind him, holding his arms in place, as the Stranger pointed his favourite knife at the boy's cheek. _

"_He won't come." Pip wheezed, "He doesn't care about me."_

"_Don't play games with me, bastard." The Stranger chuckled manically, "What kind of father doesn't care for his son?"_

"_Tony Stark is not my father!" Pip snapped defensively. _

_The Stranger slashed the knife across the boy's cheek, leaving behind a gruesome wound running dangerously close to Pip's right eye. Blood oozed thickly from the cut and dripped onto the boy's lap, decorating his navy blue jeans with a splash of crimson._

"_We'll make Stark come." The man sneered before ordering one of his goons forward in a tongue Pip didn't recognise. The goon nervously handed the Stranger a disposable mobile, then, bowing respectively, he backed into the shadows. The man spent less than a minute dialling Pip's own number and pressed the handset cruelly over the fresh wound on the boy's cheek._

"_Beg." The Stranger ordered, "Make him come."_

"_Pip?" The recognizable voice of Tony Stark gained the boy's attention just long enough to give him a little boost of courage._

"_You can't make me." Pip threatened half-heartedly._

"_Do it." The Stranger hissed as he pushed the phone painfully against the boy's injury. _

_An agonising scream burst from Pip's mouth as the Stranger grinned and raised the bloody handset to his mouth, "I told you I would see you again soon." He grinned to himself, "If you ever want to see the bastard again, I suggest you surrender your suits to me, _Iron Man._"_

The phone fell silent in Tony's hand, the sound of Pip's tortured scream echoed mockingly in his ears. Pepper was pulling on his arm and asking him questions, but her voice was muted and far away, as if Stark was standing at the bottom of the deepest well. There was something else itching at the back of Tony's mind. Something about the way the Stranger spoke that was almost familiar.

"Tony, please speak to me." Pepper pleaded.

Stark hesitated as he searched for words to explain what he'd heard, when an idea came to him; an idea that could save precious hours in the search for the boy, if, of course, he was able to persuade the agents at SHIELD to assist him.

"Did we ever end up with a contact number for Agent Hill?" he wondered aloud.

Pepper took a moment to realise that Tony had spoken and paused before she finally nodded. Stark smiled reassuringly, "I think I know how to find Pip."

* * *

Maria Hill was having a good day, or, at least, nothing had gone wrong and Director Fury had only raised his voice once all morning. She should have known it wouldn't last; Tony Stark had made sure of that, even though Hill had a feeling he genuinely hadn't meant to, for once. Behind all the cockiness, the urge to show off and the occasional inappropriate comment, Stark was a good man, and Hill could tell that he was worried. Admittedly, Hill wouldn't have considered SHIELD to be a first choice for finding a missing child, but at least she couldn't deny that they had the technology. Hill had never met Pip in person or even seen a photo, apart from one that Miss Potts had sent after Coulson's funeral when the boy was no more than a week old. Stark didn't talk about Pip if he could help it, and usually changed the subject whenever a conversation swayed toward family. The only reason Maria knew the child's full name was because Pepper had told her. Philip Potts; she'd named him after Coulson. But, on those rare occasions when the boy was mentioned, he was always referred to, as 'Pip.'

The flight deck was swarming with Agents, but nobody questioned Hill's motives as she ran the mobile number Stark had given her through the tracking software. As she had feared, the small window that appeared on the monitor announced the phone untraceable.

"Crap." Hill cursed under her breath before starting another programme which could access any, and all, wireless devices with some form of microphone, and asked a selection of ten to twenty Agents to listen out for suggestions of Philip Potts' whereabouts.

"Keep me posted." She ordered.

No more than three hours later, Maria Hill got the news she'd been waiting for; they had located Pip, and with him, a man who was supposed to be in SHIELD custody.

"Director Fury!" Hill screamed, "Why wasn't I informed of a break out?"

Fury sighed, "I'm not going to lie to you, Agent Hill."

"It's not reputation again, is it?" Maria muttered.

The Director pretended not to hear her, "The Stranger has just become a potential threat to the citizens of Manhattan. You, of all people, should know what that means, Agent."

* * *

_"I don't have long to talk, Mr Stark, so I'm going to get straight to the point. We've found Pip; he's in an old building on the edge of the city. It's secluded for demolition next month, but that's rapidly becoming unnecessary. Fury has sent out the order already, you don't have much time..." _

* * *

A steak of red and gold shot over the city causing hands to point up to the sky as their owners called to their parents and friends to join in their excitement. Tony, on the other hand, was far from excited. If it wasn't for the vital directions Jarvis wittered in his ear, Stark would have been a wreck. But there was no time for panicking, not while Pip was minutes from being killed beside the villains and Tony couldn't let that happen, not again. As the old building came into sight, the first bomb went off and a surprising large section of the roof caved in.

"_You were right," The Stranger grinned as he twirled his beloved knife between his fingers, "Tony Stark doesn't care about you."_

_The goons hidden in every shadow sniggered to each other. _

"_You are useless now," he continued, "Any last words before I slit your throat, bastard?" _

_Pip stifled a sob, but could do nothing to hide the tears that followed. Fear and loss of blood had made the boy tremble. He was so weak it took an unbelievable amount of effort for him to even sit upright._

"_I hope you rot in hell." Pip whimpered._

_The Stanger only laughed. The boy closed his eyes as death staggered toward him with the dirty blade in hand. A bomb exploded from somewhere in the building and for a fraction of a second, Pip felt a flicker of relief, truly believing that the rescue party had arrived. And then the roof collapsed on top of him. _

"No..."

The word had escaped Stark's mouth in a quiet whisper as he dived into the wrecked building. Rubble and dust hung in the air like a vile cloud and made it almost impossible to see without help from Jarvis. Quickly, but carefully, Tony worked his way through the mess of brick and glanced at every fallen body he passed.

"We meet again, _Stark_." The Stranger sneered from the floor.

A crimson lake oozed from a gaping hole in the man's side as Tony knelt down beside him and scanned his scarred face. His hair was longer and shaggier that Stark remembered and he no longer wore glasses, but it was definitely the same man.

"Hammer? Thought SHIELD locked you up?"

"Oh they did." Justin wheezed, "Did you miss me?"

Tony smirked under his mask, "You _wish_. Now, where is he?"

Hammer sniggered as Stark aimed a small missile at his head.

"You're too late, _Iron Man_." The Stranger grinned as the life drained out of his eyes.

As Tony stood, he noticed another body half buried under debris. The body was smaller than the others, about the size of a child. Stark rushed forward and brushed the hair out of Pip's pale, blood covered face.

"Pip? Can you hear me? It's alright, I'm here now."

Tony blasted at the rubble pinning the boy to the ground, all the time mumbling reassuring words to himself as much as to the child. By the time the second bomb went off, Stark had Pip cradled in his arms and stood in the open air by the building that had, because of SHIELD, been reduced to not much more than a mass of brick and rubble.

Tony gently laid the boy on the grass a safe distance from the wreckage and examined Pip's lifeless body. Every wound Hammer had inflicted on the boy was coated in a layer of dust from the rubble. An ugly cut close to the child's right eye was swollen with clotting blood and Stark could easily see that Pip would need stitches. More blood decorated the skin on his neck, as well as dyeing the boy's jeans and t-shirt a burgundy colour as it dried. Tony yanked off his helmet and laid his metal fingers on Pip's chest.

"Please wake up, Pip." He begged, "You and your mother are all I have left, and I can't lose either of you." Stark gently lifted the boy's head onto his lap and stoked Pip's ginger-tinged hair. "Please, Philip."

"You've never called me _that_ before." The boy whispered.

Tony didn't hesitate in enveloping the child in iron-coated arms as tears of relief threatened to escape his eyes.

"I love you, Dad." Pip whimpered.

It was the first time in 14 years that Stark had heard that sentence, and the first time in 14 years that he repeated those three little words to someone other than Pepper.

"I love you too, Philip."

The boy giggled in Tony's ear, before he whispered, "So, you _do_ have a heart."

Stark smiled; Pepper might be Pip's mother, but Philip had always been Tony's son.

_Always._


	2. Epilogue

**A/N; All Marvel Movies have this 'tradition' of a little clip after the credits that is basically an epilogue or teaser trailer for the next movie due out. So, without further a do, I present _'That Little Teaser Chapter for Proof Tony Stark Has A Heart.'_**

**_~The Ice Phoenix_**

* * *

_The following is the recording of the questioning of Junior Agent Kat on the incident involving Phillip Stark and the criminal mastermind Jason Hammer, aka 'The Stranger'. Taken from SHIELD files by Agent Hill, October 2012._

* * *

It wasn't my fault. I wasn't told about the boy. I thought it was going to be simple. You know, blow up the bad guys and save the world; Easy. Easy enough for a first real mission, anyway. Nobody doubted that my training wasn't to perfection. Okay, so maybe I needed to work on my focus a little bit, but other than that, I was good. Better even than some of the older Agents, but then again, they hadn't been training every day since they were five.

Oh, right. The Incident.

The Director told me he had a mission for me. He said it would be easy. All I had to do was set up and hide a few bombs and detonate them from a safe point far away. And that's all he told me, I swear! It wasn't until I set off the first bomb that I was given any more information.

I'd snuck into the building to place the bombs and nobody saw me. I ran to the safe point as instructed and detonated the first explosion. That was when I got the call from Maria... I mean... Agent Hill. She said there was a hostage inside the building; an Innocent. She ordered me to approach and report back on survivors.

I know it was stupid, but I nearly ran into the wreckage to save the kid myself. And I would have, if the Iron Man hadn't blasted his way in before me. Agent Hill told me to wait until Iron Man emerged, and the second that he did, I had to blow the building sky high. So, I waited.

I waited until Iron Man flew out and I slammed my hand on the detonator. The explosion didn't even touch him. I _know_ I shouldn't have stayed after that. I should have just left, but I couldn't; I _had_ to make sure the kid was alive. I've been trained how to kill with my bare hands and in practice I don't hesitate, but in real life, when the victim isn't much younger than me, it's different.

I stayed until I saw the boy hug him, and then I left. Mum told me not to say, but I'm not that great a liar, so I'm just going to tell you anyway. Yes, I was spotted; I think the boy saw me leaving. And, you know what? I don't care! I'm glad he saw me! I really don't care if I never get to go on another mission, or if I'm exiled from SHIELD! Brainwash me if you want! I. Don't. Care!

Wait, what are you doing? What's that? You are not going to drug me again! Please! You can't lock me in my room forever! Mother, tell them! Where's Maria? I demand to speak to Agent Hill!

Fine... I get it... Just... Just one more thing... Daddy... Daddy takes me back to... to my... room...

* * *

_[ END OF RECORDING ]_


End file.
